Albania has been really good.

Message to Friends:

Hey Boys.

Well things just get busier and busier don’t they. This last month has flown by. And I’m sure September is just going to be even faster. It’s so weird to think that I’m basically ¾ done. I don’t know how I feel about that. Tim’s gonna be home for Christmas which is really jacked up.

Albania has been really good. Good weather, good work, good times. We’ve been trying really hard to incorporate this new teaching stuff into our lessons and it has been really interesting. I find myself either having a really good lesson or just bombing horribly. It’s pretty funny. I’m sure you’d all be supremely entertained to see some of my bloopers from lessons. But as a general rule I’m really glad that they released those principles. I have a lot to work on, but now I know where to focus my efforts and what to practice. And I think I’m getting better. Slowly, but surely.

Anyway, so what’s up in the rest of the world? It’s great to hear all your guys’ stories and successes. Fjelsted, sounds like a pretty rough comp. Hang in there! You’re my hero. So as I was reading the last newsletter, I was thinking to myself about how legit you all are. You guys are seriously awesome. I can honestly say that my friends are probably the coolest people on earth. All of you out there working tirelessly/biking across freaking America. How can you get more legit than that? Anyway, thanks for your examples to me. I’ve always looked up to you guys and always will. I feel like if I were Tazz I would tell you to stay classy.

We’ve had a lot of blessings from the Lord this past little while. It seems like He knows exactly where we need to be. I’ve also seen more answers to my personal prayers than ever before in my life. There’s a section in Alma 33 that really describes how I’ve felt as of late. Alma is quoting Zenos and he says the words, “Thou didst hear me,” over and over and over again. Zenos recognized that God always heard him and was continually answering his prayers. Lately I feel like God has been very close to me listening and answering my prayers. I’ve felt peace when I’ve asked for peace. Forgiveness when I’ve asked for forgiveness. Direction when I’ve asked for direction. It’s incredible to know that we really do have a Father in heaven that looks out for us and cares for us. He can do anything and He is so ready and willing to help us. He loves His children.

One of the answers we saw yesterday after church. We have set a goal that was inspired by President Neil to not let any week go by without finding any new investigators. We usually don’t have too big of a problem with that, but this last week we were really cutting it close. It was Sunday and we still hadn’t found one. In our nightly planning, we had decided that new investigators were really all we wanted out of our Sunday. So we decided that we were going to go tracting after church and find a new investigator. Even if it took us till 3:00 when everyone is asleep. It was Fast Sunday so tracting after church was not the easiest thing to do, but we had faith that the Lord would guide us and help us find the person that was waiting for us. So we started tracting some private houses on a dirt road. It was about 2:00 which is usually when tracting stops being effective in anyway, but we knew our new investigator was right around the corner. We ended up at a big, bright green door and gave it a knock. We had heard a couple voices coming from inside the gate, but weren’t sure if they were coming or not. It was weird because we both just ended up standing at the door for a really long time. Normally I would have left, but I just kinda stood there waiting for my comp to leave. Finally after probably two or three minutes of standing in front of the door, a young man came to the door. We introduced ourselves and our message and asked if we could sit down for a couple minutes and show him how he could benefit from it. He was like, “Uh sure I guess.” We sat down in his front yard and had a really short, but really good lesson. He’s not super religious, but he said that he was willing to ask God and read the Book of Mormon. We’re going back on Wednesday to follow up.

God was obviously helping us to achieve our goal. It was really cool because afterwards I found out that my comp was fasting to find a young man that we could start teaching. (We’ve had this streak of finding women and having to give them to the sisters. Weird I know.) Just like Zenos says, God hears us when we pray to Him. He wants to help us and He loves us so much. I know God answers prayers.

I love you all and I’m praying for you. Keep your stick on the ice.

“Prayer can change the night to day. So, when life gets dark and dreary, don’t forget to pray.”

-Elder Swenson